Seven Ways I Can Celebrate My Uniqueness

Wednesday, May 15, 2019

March was a hell of a month for me honestly. I started out the month incredibly sick. I had a presentation for class (while I was sick ...

March was a hell of a month for me honestly. I started out the month incredibly sick. I had a presentation for class (while I was sick - I literally did my presentation at the start of class then left). I drove five hours to attend a conference in Mobile. I presented at said conference. Had an interview for a promotion that I didn't get. Not to mention, it was the busiest time of the semester in my office. So yeah - hell of a month. And then, I spent all of April trying to recover.

I say all of that for a reason. One which sparked from a month that was overwhelming, stressful, and non-stop. I'd say a bit of it also sparked from repeatedly watching the trailer for Rocketman, which gave me all the feels and made me love myself more.

I am worthy.

Through a bout of presentations and interviews, I found my confidence. I'm super quirky and a really weird person. I also have pretty bad anxiety. But those things form into the human that is me. We have to remember that we all have worth in this world, and we have to take care to appreciate ourselves and cultivate growth in our beings. Should we change and grow as individuals? Yes, absolutely. We all have things we can improve upon, but that doesn't mean that we change ourselves at the very core of who we are. It's important that we discover our deep passion and love for ourselves, so we can use that passion and love to discover our personal feelings about others, and hopefully work to improve the world as a whole. We have to fight for ourselves and for those who differ from us, and try to do that while staying true to who we are and who we want to be. It's a lot, but it's kind of sparked this idea in me to love myself a little more - and here are seven ways I'm trying to do just that.

1. Realize the ways I am strong in daily/weekly/monthly tasks. I feel weak a lot, mostly because I'm emotional and physical unfit. But I do so many things that take different forms of strength, so I need to remind myself regularly what those things are.

2. Take note of the things I have access to and not take those things for granted. This world we live in makes it so easy to forget our privileges. I want to continue to remember the things I have that make me lucky in life and take time to be grateful for those things.

3. Use my resources to continuously pursue growth as an individual. This growth can be physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, professional, personal, or whatever. But as humans, I believe we should try to be the best versions of ourselves, and sometimes that can be really challenging - that's where growth can play in.

4. Find things I enjoy and do the hell out of those things. Maybe it's reading (hello, me) or kayaking, maybe travelling, or jamming out to music that makes you feel good (haaaave you heard Lizzo?). What that thing (or things) is/are, do the hell out of them, and don't let anyone make you feel bad or guilty about it (unless, you know it's incredibly unethical or just plain wrong...).

5. Don't let society's standards dictate how I feel about myself. I'm overweight/fat/plus-size - whichever term makes you feel most comfortable. But I struggle so much with how I feel about my size because society tells me to, and it brings me down. Take up space and own it. Maybe it's your size society makes you feel bad about, maybe it's the clothes you wear, the color of your hair, or your lack of makeup. Whatever it is, don't let society tell you it's not okay.

6. Wear my heart (and tattoos) on my sleeve unabashedly. I am emotional. I'm a crier. I could be happy, sad, angry, frustrated, what-have-you. I'm going to cry about it. And forever reason, that seems to be a bad thing. But it's not. We're human and we have emotions. Many of us handle them in different ways, and I think that's okay. Maybe I'm not going to go hysterical and pitch a fit, but I may silently cry to let my emotions out in the moment - and seriously, there's nothing wrong with that. I'm not weak. I'm letting my feelings out in the moment so I can move forward.

7. As for the tattoos remark (see point 6) - I love my tattoos and I chose each of them for a reason important to me, so I'm not going to hide them to make others feel more comfortable (also see point 5). I may cover them up because it's cold or on my own terms, but not because a flower on my arm is "offensive" to someone.

These are things I can do to celebrate who I am as a human, and I will try to do these things regularly by staying true to myself and pursuing my growth potential. I will fail sometimes. I will get down on myself. I will lack self-confidence. But I will celebrate me as often as I can.

Kayla Whitter is a 20-something INFJ and Hufflepuff. She enjoys reading avidly, binge-watching tv shows, and occasionally venturing out into the world. She can often be found drinking coffee, and eating burritos or Chick-fil-a.

I love all of the ideas and thoughtfulness in this post but hate to hear that you struggle with self-confidence. I mean, I guess - I know - we all do, but it's always so weird to see someone who, from afar, totally looks happy & like they've got their life together at top-confidence levels, admit that they struggle with it, you know? You are so talented & thoughtful & smart & creative, & I hope that putting together this post helped you feel all of those things!

Kate, thank you so much. I think we all probably struggle with confidence, but some of us hide it better than others. I often hear from people that they'd never have thought it was an issue for me, but it is. And I think it's important to share those vulnerabilities with others so we all feel a little less alone in the world. Thank you for always being so awesome!

WELCOME.

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